Advocacy Blog Posts

The U.S. Senate has just passed the Farm Bill, a huge piece of federal legislation that is renewed every five years. While many parts of the Farm Bill time out after five years, other included provisions are enrolled into U.S. law permanently—and this year, that includes a new measure that is going to be a game-changer in our efforts to end animal fighting.

Congress added crucial elements of the Animal Fighting Spectator Prohibition Act into the Farm Bill, making it a federal offense to knowingly attend an organized animal fight and imposing additional penalties for bringing a child to animal fights. Violators face up to one year in prison for attending a fight and up to three years in prison for bringing a child to a fight.

The House- and Senate-passed Farm Bill excludes the dangerous King Amendment.

The Farm Bill will now be transmitted to President Obama, who has indicated that he will sign it quickly.

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After months of negotiations, the U.S. House Representatives voted Wednesday to pass the Farm Bill—legislation to set policy for many federal agriculture programs. Thanks to all who lobbied Congress with us, animals can claim important victories on two fronts in this legislation. First, the Farm Bill contains a provision to crack down on animal fighting: gruesome spectacles where gamblers wager on animals who are forced to fight to the death. Second, this legislation protects the integrity of hundreds of state animal protection laws across the country from the grievous threat of the King Amendment. The ASPCA applauds Congress for advancing its crackdown on animal fighters while handing a defeat to animal abusers in the Farm Bill.

The animal fighting language in the Farm Bill establishes the first-ever federal penalties for attending an animal fight and criminalizes bringing a child to one of these heinous events. Reflecting the language of the Animal Fighting Spectator Act (H.R 366 / S. 666), this provision creates liability for the individuals whose illegal wagers and admission fees fuel this cruelty. It also ensures that organizers cannot easily escape prosecution by hiding in the crowd when law enforcement arrives, since now everyone in the crowd will be breaking the law.

The King Amendment, named after its sponsor, Rep. Steve King (R-IA), was an incredible federal power-grab that could have prevented states from enacting many of their own laws regarding the production of any “agricultural products”—a term so broad that it can include farm animals, dogs in puppy mills, and even locally grown fruits and vegetables. The defeat of the King Amendment preserves the historic power of states to pass laws that protect the health and welfare of animals.

After today’s vote in the House, the Farm Bill is headed to the Senate for consideration and passage.

The ASPCA Government Relations team has made passage of the Animal Fighting Spectator Prohibition Act and defeat of the King Amendment top priorities this Congress. We couldn’t have achieved these victories without the members of our Advocacy Brigade, who sent thousands of emails to their Members of Congress about the animal fighting bill and the King Amendment.

The message is clear: Our nation’s leaders agree that horses deserve protection from slaughter. Both the U.S. House and Senate included a provision in the just-signed omnibus spending bill that prohibits the use of tax dollars to inspect facilities that slaughter horses for human consumption. The same measure was recommended by President Obama in his draft budget early last year.

Since federal law requires meat-processing plants that conduct business across state lines to be inspected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, this inspection ban effectively prohibits horse slaughter in the United States.

The ASPCA would like to thank our humane allies in the House and Senate for their hard work to include this language--particularly Senators Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Reps. Jim Moran (D-VA) and the late Bill Young (R-FL). Their tireless efforts, along with the support of advocates all across the country, made this victory possible.

“I am relieved that horse slaughter is now banned in the United States, protecting the American public from the very serious health and safety risks posed by horse meat. Slaughtering horses is inhumane, disgusting and unnecessary, and there is no place for it in the United States. I appreciate Senator Graham's partnership to ban this cruel practice, keep our food supply safe and save taxpayer dollars,” Senator Landrieu said upon the spending bill’s Senate passage. “I appreciate ASPCA’s continued efforts to inform the public about the dangers of horse slaughter.”

UPDATE—Thursday, Jan. 16, 7:30 P.M. Wonderful news! The U.S. Senate has just passed the FY2014 spending bill with the horse slaughter funding-limitation language intact. The president is expected to sign the bill by the end of the week. This means that no horse slaughter facilities will be permitted to open in the U.S. for the 2014 fiscal year. Congratulations and thanks are due to all our amazing animal advocates, who helped secure this victory.

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The U.S. House of Representatives has just passed the federal government’s FY2014 spending bill, which contains language expressly prohibiting the use of tax dollars to inspect facilities that slaughter horses for human consumption. The massive funding bill is expected to pass the U.S. Senate and be signed into law by President Obama later this week, ushering ina ban on domestic horse slaughter nationwide.

“The message from Capitol Hill is loud and clear on this issue: Our horses deserve better and this abhorrent industry will not be tolerated,” says Nancy Perry, Senior Vice President of ASPCA Government Relations. “We thank the members of the House for recognizing that using taxpayer dollars to fund the inhumane horse slaughter industry is reckless and wasteful, and urge the Senate to quickly pass this bill.”

In response to overwhelming public opposition to horse slaughter, Congress enacted a similar spending prohibition each year for FY2006 through FY2011. However, it failed to include the prohibition language in the FY2012 budget, opening the door for this gruesome practice to return to U.S. soil.

While the proposed FY2014 spending bill will protect American communities from the devastating environmental and economic impacts of horse slaughter facilities, it will not prohibit the transport of U.S. horses for slaughter across the border to Canada and Mexico. Last year, more than 160,000 American horses were victims of this grisly, foreign industry that produces unsafe, drug-tainted meat.

We can end this horror by passing the Safeguard American Food Exports (SAFE) Act (S. 541/H.R. 1094)—bipartisan legislation that would permanentlyend the current export of American horses for slaughter abroad, and protect the public from consuming toxic horse meat.

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The U.S. Congress just released the brand new funding bill for FY2014 – a massive bill involving more than a trillion tax dollars – and we are thrilled to announce that horse slaughter will not be coming back to United States soil.

The ASPCA worked day and night to ensure that tax dollars would not be spent on inspections that enable the slaughter of horses for human consumption. We worked closely with other animal welfare organizations, consumer safety groups, as well as thousands of citizens representing the 80% of Americans that oppose horse slaughter, and Congress has listened. The message from Capitol Hill is loud and clear on this issue: Our horses deserve better and this dangerous industry must not be tolerated. Horse slaughter has no business here.

Advocates fought hard when the Agriculture Appropriations bill was being considered at committee level, winning votes in both the House and Senate that amended the bills to prohibit funding for horse slaughter inspections. And tonight, we finally know that this horse slaughter funding limitation is intact! Congress is not expected to make any changes to the bill text at this stage of the game, so the writing is on the wall for any efforts to open horse slaughter plants in the U.S. Both chambers are expected to pass the bill, and the president is expected to sign it into law, later this week.

Now is the time for Congress to take the final step in protecting America’s horses from this nightmarish industry, by passing the Safeguard American Food Exports (SAFE) Act (H.R. 1094 / S. 541) to prevent both the slaughter of American horses for human consumption in this country, and their export for that purpose abroad.